Around 1150CE, Gaimar refers
to "la cite de Snauedun" as one of the three renowned cities of
Wales. Chris Gwinn on Arthurnet has asserted that on linguistic grounds, 'that Snauedun is the same as the Modern
English Snowdon Segontium / Cair Segeint / Caer Saint has been suggested
as the actual location of the city, because it lay at the bottom of the
slopes of Snowdon, and was an impressive landmark to the Welsh, and the
only major ancient site in the area - in the list of the major cities of
Britain in the HB, it is one of the few Welsh cities listed.'
A comparison of other
Arthurian texts which mention places like Sinadon, Senaudone, Sinadoune,
and Isneldune, also seem to indicate that it is Snowdon being referred to.
Gwinn also points out that Loomis saw a connection between the
descriptions of Elen & Eudav's Caer [Aber] Saint and Yblis &
Iweret's castle at Dodone. See Loomis in Speculum, XXII (1947), pgs.
520-30 and his notes in Webster's translation of Lanzelet, pgs. 196-198.